Monday Rain
by marauderzoe
Summary: On a rainy Monday, Katherine Pierce walks into Elijah Mikaelson's office with a proposal...
1. Chapter 1

Katherine Pierce stepped out of the elevator and confidently made her way towards Elijah Mikaelson's office. She couldn't believe that she was actually going to do this, but she was desperate. And right now, the plan actually seemed like it might work. Sure, it was rash and impulsive and could quite possible wound up being disastrous. But she was Katherine Pierce and when she wanted something, she would stop at nothing before she got it. She could do this.

"Excuse me, miss, do you have an appointment with mister Mikaelson?" "No." She hadn't seen that one coming. Way to go, Kat. "Who should I tell him that is here?" The assistant or secretary asked. She smiled. "Katherine Pierce." The young woman called her boss and after a few minutes she was shown to the office.

Elijah was standing with his back to her, looking out the window. It had started to rain. To say he had been surprised when his assistant had told him that Katherine Pierce wished to see him would be an understatement. He hadn't heard anything from her in years. That wasn't exactly true, he'd seen her at a congress just two months ago, but they had merely exchanged some pleasantries. "Good day, Katerina." Elijah said as he turned to look at her. Like always, Katherine was wearing high heels and inappropriate clothing. Or inappropriate for someone coming into his office, anyways.

Great, Katherine thought to herself. She's only got here and he looks like he's already going to scold her for what she was wearing. She raised her head and forced herself to be polite. "Hello, Elijah." She forced a smile. Why had she let Klaus talk her into this? "Please, sit." Elijah motioned for her to take a seat, while he did the same. Only Katherine remained standing. She bit her lip nervously. Okay, Kat, now or never, just get this over with. "Will you marry me?" Elijah leaned his head back and laughed. He actually laughed. But Katherine wasn't kidding.

Elijah looked back at the girl and realised that she had actually been serious. "You're actually being sincere?" Katherine nodded. "Unless I'm mistaken it is not because of any affection from your side, so I take it this is one of your schemes?" Elijah guessed. Katherine hesitated before sitting down. "Just hear me out, okay?" Elijah decided to hear her out, genuinely interested in what she was planning now.

"The thing is, I want to take over Petrova International, or at least a branch of it. The problem is, my darling mother doesn't believe I'm mature enough to lead part of the company, let alone all of it. Also, I need access to my trust found, and she won't let me unless I'm settled, which is absolute bullshit if you ask me. But anyway, in order to prove to her that I can, I need to show her that I'm actually serious, that this isn't just something I'm doing on a whim." "Let me get this straight, you want to marry me to prove that you're ready to settle down and be serious about your own life?" Elijah concluded. This was one of the most ridiculous plans he'd ever heard. He couldn't imagine Katerina Gilbert or Katherine Pierce as a woman who would ever just settle down somewhere. "Exactly." She said with a hopeful smile. "Why come to me?" He was sure that Katerina could ensnare a lot of men for the role, but why would she want him? "Well, you're a respectable, successful man. You're a Mikaelson. And you're pretty much everything she believes I'm not. Besides, Nik said that your parents were getting on your case about the fact that you're still single and that it was time for you to settle. It's a win-win for the both of us. And when I get the company, I could always use a lawyer to help me out."

Elijah chuckled. Of course she would've gone to his younger brother. Those two were both scheming masterminds, capable of coming up with the craziest and most reckless ideas. It had landed them in trouble before. "I'm sorry, Katerina, but you'll have to find someone else." Katherine sighed. She should've known. "Please, Elijah. I'm desperate." But he shook his head. "Even if I said yes, people would have their doubts about it. Especially with our past." "That was one date. And I was nineteen. It happened five years ago." Elijah sighed, but he couldn't give in. He knew that this would be a disaster. "It wouldn't work between us, Katerina. No one would believe that it was real. We don't get along, we constantly clash."

Katherine sighed. She knew he was right. Hell, she had thought about it herself, but if she wanted to make her mother believe that she was serious and ready to settle down, she'd need someone with Elijah Mikaelson's standing. Katherine got out of the chair. "You're right. It wouldn't work. It was a stupid idea to begin with. Forget I even asked." She walked out of the door.

Elijah watched her leave. Once more, he found himself staring after her. He couldn't help himself, there was something in the way that Katerina held herself that left you staring after her. Elijah wondered what she could accomplish if she was actually given the chance. This was Katerina Gilbert, when she wanted something, she got it. She didn't give a damn about what she left in her wake. She was a force of to be reckoned with. He followed after her. "Katerina, wait." Elijah shouted as he saw her nearing the elevator. Katherine turned around. Elijah quickly closed the distance. "I'll do it." "For real?" Katherine asked. "I'll probably regret it, but I will." Katherine threw her arms around him. "Thank you." "Hold your horses, Katerina. We'll need to set some rules and boundaries. Get our stories straight. We can't just dive into this." It was clear for Elijah that Katherine hadn't taken all that into consideration. "Right." She said. "How about we go out tonight and work this out?" "It's a date." Katherine said with a wink and stepped in the elevator.


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

 **So, first of all, sorry for the delay. I've had this chapter ready for quite some time and just didn't have the time to put it up. I've been moving from one country to another, so it's been a bit hectic. But, now I'm back home and I'll hopefully have the time to update regularly.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

* * *

 **Oxford – 5 years ago**

Katherine was walking through the halls, trying to find the auditorium for her next class. So far, her first week had been great. She'd made a few acquaintances and had already found her drinking buddy for the coming year. Katherine was happy to be here, to be away from the madness that was going on back home. She needed this, though she missed Brown and her best friend and former roommate, Caroline Forbes. Oxford was different. It had a different feel to it. And she had loved every minute of it. Most importantly, no Elena, no Isobel and no uncle John. It was just her dad, Amara and she.

She finally found the auditorium and recognised the face of someone she had seen in some of her other classes. She took a seat next to her. The girl smiled at her.

"I'm Sage."

"Katherine."

She took out her notepad and looked around the room. The class would start in five minutes and people were still filing in.

"I heard that the professor is a no nonsense kind of guy, but fair. His TA, on the other hand, is an uptight ass." Sage whispered as a guy who appeared to be in his mid-twenties walked in.

"A hot piece of uptight ass." Katherine said as she took in the appreciative appearance of the TA. He was wearing a grey suit, a light blue shirt and a dark blue tie. He had brown hair, high cheekbones and a strong jawline.

"He always wears a suit and tie, like whenever you see him, any outside of class activity, you can count on him to wear that."

"I can think of some other activities I wouldn't mind doing with that tie." The two girl broke out into giggles. One look from the TA silenced them however.

"Good afternoon. I am Elijah Mikaelson, the assistant of professor Branson. You won't be-" Elijah stopped as a blonde haired girl walked into the room.

"Alexia, nice of you to join us."

"My apologies, mister Mikaelson." She didn't sound as if she was sorry at all.

"Take a seat." Mikaelson dismissed her like that. Uptight ass indeed.

"As I was saying, before being interrupted, you won't be meeting professor Branson today. Oxford has a very high standing and we like to keep it that way. In order to partake in this class, you'll need to pass the entrance test."

"What?" Katherine exclaimed.

Elijah looked at the girl. It was the one who had been giggling earlier. He knew that if she passed, she would most likely become a pain in his ass.

"Is there a problem, miss...?"

Katherine cursed herself for her big mouth. But she wasn't one to back down. "Gilbert. I just didn't expect a test so soon."

Elijah admired the girl's audacity. "Like I said, Oxford has made a name. We will not allow for that reputation to be demolished. Now if everyone would make sure that there is at least one seat between you and your neighbour, we can get started."

There was some moving around when everyone did what was asked.

When everyone was seated, Elijah handed out the test. Katherine sighed as she got the sheet. Mathematics had never been her strongest suit. "Starting from now, you have two hours and a half. Good luck." Elijah walked around the room, supervising the students.

Okay, Kat, you can do this. It's just some test, no big deal. It's not that she sucked at math, she just had a harder time keeping up with university math. She knew how to apply it to her chemistry, but the basic concept, the abstract use of mathematics, proved to be a bit more challenging. The test wasn't easy, but they didn't ask anything she hadn't seen yet.

"Time's up. Pens down. The scores will be posted on Monday." Katherine put her pen down and followed after Sage to hand it in.

"Thank you, miss Gilbert." Elijah smirked at her. Katherine smiled sweetly at him.

"I'll see you next week, mister Mikaelson." And then she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Elijah staring after her.

"How did it go?" Sage asked when she followed Katherine out.

"It could've been worse. You?"

"It went quite alright."

"Sage, Gilbert, wait up." The girl who'd been late in class caught up with them.

"You are like my new favourite person. Mikaelson's an ass, but he was the best of his year. Don't worry too much about the test, it's more a guideline than something else. I'm Lexi, by the way." Lexi said, mostly to Katherine.

"Thanks? I'm Katherine."

Lexi nodded.

"How come you were late?" Sage asked the blonde.

"Lost track of time. So, Katherine, where are you from?"

"A small town in Virginia." She didn't tell them the name, because they wouldn't even know where to look for it. Besides, there was nothing left for her there, only lost dreams and broken promises.

"Small town girl playing in the big leagues. I'm impressed. How did you get here, anyway? You're a sophomore, right?" Sage said with a smile.

"I transferred from Brown."

"Ivy League to Russell Group. Seriously impressive. Money or talent?" Katherine liked the two girls already. They were impulsive and brash, like her.

"Both. My dad got offered a job in Oxford. I tagged along. I needed to get out of the States."

"Why don't we talk it over at dinner?" Lexi proposed. Katherine didn't see the harm. She texted her dad to let him know that she'd be out late tonight.

"You already started without me. I'm hurt." Katherine said as she walked into the bar. Dinner with Lexi and Sage had been nice. She'd learnt that Lexi was the daughter of her math professor. Sage's dad was an important business guy and her mother was a lawyer. Katherine's father was a chemistry professor. Lexi had a younger brother and Sage was an only child. Katherine had briefly mentioned that she had two sisters and a cousin she considered a brother. Sage and Lexi had met last year and had become instant friends. They easily accepted Katherine into their fold. Then they'd switched to their academic aspirations. Lexi was an engineering mathematics major and Sage went for biomedical engineering, while Katherine had opted to go for chemical engineering.

"You're late. But you brought some friends."

"Kol." Lexi greeted as she sat down next to him.

"I like you even more, now." Sage said, taking the seat next opposite Kol.

"Sage, Lexi. How lovely to see you young ladies."

"Your brother sucks." Lexi said.

"He's boring and serious. Why do you think I've changed majors? I don't want to be in Branson's class when mister suit is still around." Kol motioned for the waitress for four beers.

"Elijah's your brother?"

"With suit and tie. He's the respectable one. I'm the fun one." Kol said with a wink.

Sage and Katherine looked at one another and started giggling again.

"You already have an inside joke?" Lexi asked, sounding a bit hurt.

"I told Katherine about Elijah's choice in wardrobe and Katherine mentioned other activities involving ties."

"You are my new favourite person." Lexi giggled.

"Can we please not talk about my brother and his ties?" Kol asked when he handed out the beers.

"Is it that much fun?" Lexi inquired.

Katherine bit her lip. "There are some interesting things you can do. I once…" Katherine stopped as her phone rang. It was Stefan. "Excuse me." She said as she answered.

"Hi Stef." It had been a week since she'd heard from him.

"Kat, how's Oxford?"

"Great. I'm having a drink. How's Brown? Aren't you missing me too much?" She heard a laugh on the other side of the line.

"It's definitely different, surprisingly quiet."

"Who would've thought? How's Care?" It was nice talking to Stefan. They'd met at orientation and had been fast friends. He's the one who'd helped her settle at Brown. He was in his last year of international relations. It was only a step up for his LSATs. He wanted to become a lawyer.

"She misses you, but Caroline wouldn't be Caroline if she wasn't involved into a gazillion committees. I think she's now planning a party at her dorm." Katherine laughed at that. That was Caroline Forbes, alright. Captain of the cheerleading team, class president and head of the dance committee at Mystic Falls High. There was some commotion on Stefan's side.

"Everything alright over there?" She inquired.

"Yeah, just Damon. He had a bit of a long night and he's annoyed that I woke him."

"What else is new? Wait, why is he at Brown? Shouldn't Damon be at Yale?"

"He arrived about an hour or two ago. Pretty wasted. He decided to visit. I think he may have forgotten that you're not around." Katherine shook her head. Great. Things between Damon and her hadn't ended that well. Especially since she'd found out about Caroline.

"Idiot. Anyway I –"

"Katherine, please tell me you're around to save me from my misery?" Katherine heard Damon's voice.

"I'm at Oxford, Damon."

"As in England?" Damon sounded drunk, really drunk.

"Yes."

"What are you doing there?" She was not going to have a talk with Damon while he was in this state. "Damon, why don't you give me Stefan back, please?"

"Baby, wait. I miss you." Katherine sighed. She'd heard this before. Damon would get drunk and booty call her. They had given the dating thing a try, but Damon was a jerk and wasn't really interested in getting to know Katherine.

"Damon, please, not this again."

"Please, come back." He pleaded.

"Damon, you're drunk. Now give the phone back to Stephan." Katherine said in a no nonsense tone. She really didn't feel like dealing with Damon. She'd had her fair share of him.

"Kat, please, I'm so sor–" She didn't even give him time to finish but she just shut off the call. Katherine downed her bottle of beer and got to the bar to order some shots.

"I have the feeling there is an interesting story here." Kol said when Katherine put shots on the table.

"Sorry, you have to at least reach level seven of friendship before you get to unlock my background story." She said before emptying two shots.

"How do we get level seven?" Lexi asked, taking a shot.

"We get really drunk together."

"Count me in." Sage said and ordered another round of shots.

A couple of hours later, Elijah walked into the bar, looking for his younger brother. He spotted him in the back with three girls. He'd be damned. It was the Gilbert girl, the redhead and Alexia Branson. They seemed to be having a lot fun. Elijah neared the table. "Just like that?" He heard his brother ask the brunette.

"Just like that." She gave Kol a knowing look before downing another shot. It was clear to Elijah that they'd had ingested a serious amount of alcohol. He cleared his throat.

"Elijah, come to join the fun?" Kol asked with a big grin.

"I've come to take you home. You were supposed to be in my car half an hour ago."

"Someone's in trouble." Lexi whispered to her friends.

"Just one more drink, 'Lijah." Kol said as he held up a beer.

"Come on, Mikaelson, don't be a buzz kill." Lexi said while the Gilbert girl offered him a shot.

"No thank you, Katerina." He saw her eyes widen, before squinting at him.

"Buzz kill indeed." And downed the shot she'd just offered him.

"Come on, brother. One drink?"

"You do realise I still have to drive, right?" Elijah said, his attention mostly on Katerina Gilbert. She'd been frowning at her phone.

"Kat, maybe you can show that thing with the tie." Sage said while pointing at Elijah.

"Yeah, Mikaelson, you wouldn't mind lending us your tie." Lexi tried to grab Elijah's tie, but he stepped back.

"Kol." Elijah said with a warning.

Kol sighed in defeat. "Ladies, I believe that it is time for me to leave. Kitty Kat, you still owe me a story."

Katherine smiled sweetly at him. "Don't ever call me Kitty Kat again. It has just degraded you to level five. I should get going too." Katherine handed some money to Lexi and Sage for the drinks.

"See you on Monday, Kat. I guess the tie thing will have to wait for another time." Sage said while accepting the money.

"You're not getting out of that one, Kat." Lexi said with a wink.

"Kol, buzz kill." Both girls said as the others got up to leave.

"Kat, do you need a ride?" Kol said once they were outside.

"What?" Katherine had been once again trying to ignore her mother's incoming call.

"I asked whether you needed a ride."

"No, I'll be fine. It's just a couple of blocks. Besides, you have to be on time for the brunch with your mother." Katherine said on a mocking tone.

"You're lucky that there's an ocean between you and your mother."

"Because I put it there. Anyway, Kol, mister Mikaelson."

Once again, Elijah was left staring after the girl.

* * *

So, what did you think? It's just one flashback, the next chapter will pick up the story where the prologue left off.

Thanks for reading/reviewing/following/favouriting.


	3. Chapter 3

**Present day – Chicago**

Katherine knew she was late, but it had taken her some time to find an Elijah approved dress. Most dresses she owned were probably way too revealing for a dinner date with Elijah Mikaelson. And she was glad that she'd taken the time for a nice dress, because the place that they were meeting was expensive and high society. If Katherine had worn one of her usual dresses, she would've looked cheap. So, she sucked it up and channelled her sister. After a shopping spree and getting a headache of Nik's complaining about the boring dresses, she'd found a decent dress. It wasn't exactly something Elena would wear, but it came close. It was a burgundy floral-lace covered dress, with a v-neckline and some metallic-golden touches, with a black underdress. It didn't cling to her body like her usual dresses, it was more dynamic and it came above her knee. It was still raining when Katherine finally arrived at the restaurant.

Elijah glanced at his watch. Katerina was late, as usual. He was getting ready to leave when he finally saw the girl arrive. She looked stunning, but then again, this was Katherine Pierce, she always looked good. She made her way to Elijah's table. Elijah watched as Katherine approached him. He got up and pulled out the chair for her. She smiled shyly at him. He figured Katherine wasn't used to having dinner with a gentleman.

"Hi." Katherine said as she sat down.

"Katerina. I see you managed to find something appropriate to wear. I hope it wasn't too hard to find." Of course, Katherine thought, he would make a remark about that.

"Glad you approve." The waitress came to order their drinks.

"Vodka-cola, please." Katherine said. Elijah ordered a gin-tonic. Katherine looked at the menu, trying to cover the awkwardness. Why had she let Nik talk her into this? This was by far the most ridiculous and impulsive thing she had ever done.

Elijah was amused. It was obvious that Katerina hadn't thought this through, but what else was new. He had been surprised that she'd shown up and wore an appropriate dress. He'd always found her an attractive young woman, ever since he'd first taken a good look at her. It was sometimes easy to forget that she was only twenty four.

"Are we going to order a bottle of wine?" Elijah inquired.

"Sure, why not?" Katherine said as she peeked over the menu and looked at Elijah. She noticed the amusement in his eyes. No way that she was giving him the satisfaction of finding this amusing. She put the menu aside, just when the waitress arrived with their drinks.

"Are you ready to order?" She asked.

Elijah ordered some appetizers and a filet mignon. Katherine went for the chicken. "And could we get a bottle of Merlot, please?" Elijah asked and then the waitress took off.

"I hope you're paying." Katherine said as the waitress was out of earshot.

Elijah chuckled. "Of course. Now, how exactly do you propose we proceed?"

Katherine bit her lip, trying to come up with an answer. "Well, we can't just announce an engagement out of the blue." Katherine started. She was a master in coming up with things, she should be able to spin a believable story about her and Elijah falling in love.

"I'm all ears." The amusement was obvious in his tone. He was going to leave the work up to her. She'd turned twenty four in June, so she still had some time before she actually got access to her trust fund. It was also important that her mother didn't think anything was weird or forced. But how would she explain dating Elijah Mikaelson? The last time she'd seen the guy she'd been travelling through Europe. No wait, she'd seen him in the hotel while she was there for some conference thing. "Saint Petersburg." Katherine said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Elijah had been watching as Katerina was trying to figure out how to make the scheme work.

"What about it?"

"We were both staying in the same hotel. Let's say we ran into each other in the bar and we had a very hot and passionate night? We decided to give the dating thing a try?"

It never ceased to amaze him how good she was at just coming up with things. "Because people are actually going to believe that?"

"Please, one night with me will leave you begging for more." Katherine said without a hint of sarcasm.

Elijah chuckled. "Alright, but that happened a couple of months ago. How exactly are we to explain that?"

"Given our history, we decided to keep it quiet to see where it was going. Besides, I'd been in Russia and Bulgaria for most of the time. I only got back last week." The waitress arrived with the food.

"And now that you're back we've decided to go all in?"

"Exactly." Katherine said as she took a bite. They still needed a timeline. Both for the past couple of months as for the engagement and wedding. The wedding needed to be after her twenty-fifth birthday. "Okay, what did you do for Christmas?"

"I worked. Why?" Elijah asked, sounding confused.

"I spent my Christmas with Nik. How about we spent Christmas together? With Nik? He's already in on this, so he'd have no problem to say that you were there too." Katherine started thinking further ahead.

"Our past relationship was mostly long distance, so we had a lot of time to get to know one another. Let's say you propose in a month or two? That way we give everyone the time to get used to us dating. And when you pop the question it won't be that weird. After all, we have known each other for about five years."

In less than half an hour, Katerina had come up with a whole scheme and backstory for the two of them dating. "It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is for you to come up with a story."

Katherine shrugged. "It's a gift."

"How long are you planning on being Mrs. Mikaelson?" Katherine had just taken a sip of her wine and almost spit it out in his face.

"I'm not changing my name, Elijah. And I don't know. A year or so? It all depends on how things develop."

"If I'm going to be fake marrying you, you're going to become Mrs. Mikaelson, if not, you can go find someone else." Katherine sighed, but she had to fold. Why was he so old-fashioned? She had to admit, that it was nice to go out with someone who held the door for her and who would pull out her chair and stuff, but she was a grown woman. And it was the twenty-first century.

"Fine. Anything else you like to add to your demands?"

Elijah thought it over. "What about a contract?" The words had barely left his mouth, or Katherine was already shaking her head.

"We're not going to leave a paper trail. Besides, we're not going to involve anyone else in this. Nik knows, and that's all."

"It was only a suggestion. Why didn't you ask my brother?" Elijah inquired. It was a legitimate question. Katerina and Niklaus had been close friends for the past couple of years. They'd travelled around Europe together and they were both master-schemers, it would be a lot more convincing.

"I love Nik, but honestly, that guy wouldn't be able to go two years without sex. Besides, you're the successful one."

"Did you say two years?" Elijah understood her point. "Yes. If everything goes according to plan. It's for both of us. No infidelity."

"Are you sure you can do that?"

Katherine tucked a stray strand behind her ear. "Have a little faith, Mikaelson."

"Says the girl who slept her way through Europe."

She glared at him, but then decided it wasn't worth the trouble. "That was to gain experience and to see what was out there." Katherine said with a wink. Elijah resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her. Katherine noticed his annoyance.

"Come on, Elijah. I had fun."

"Sometimes a bit too much." He said with a knowing look. He was referring to the fountain incident that almost got her arrested. Luckily, Elijah had been around and knew how to speak Italian.

"So, when are we going to make this public?" "

Let's tackle it one person at a time. Maybe we can get Nik to help us with that, drop some hints or something?" Katherine suggested. Nik could scheme just as well as she could. With his help, she and Elijah could most definitely make it work.

"How about we have dinner with Nik tomorrow?" Elijah suggested.

"Sounds good to me." They talked some more about the upcoming week, and who they were going to be seeing. Katherine wasn't looking forward to telling her mother. She didn't like dealing with Isobel, so she was going to postpone this for as long as possible. Caroline and Stefan wouldn't be that much of a problem. It was hard to judge what her father would think, after all, Katherine's last stable relationship had been when she was in high school. She'd just roll with it.

Elijah started thinking about how he was going to explain this to his family. His mother would be somewhere between surprised and shock, especially because it would be Katherine Pierce. His father would be doubtful about this, but he would go along with it. Rebekah would be furious he didn't tell her right away, but she would just have to deal. Finn wouldn't mind and Kol would be pleased, after all, it was Kol who had set him up with Katerina so many years ago.

Elijah paid for dinner and they walked out together. It was still raining. Elijah hailed a cab for the both of them. Katherine told him she could get home alright, but he insisted. Stupid Elijah Mikaelson and his need to always be a gentleman. Who the hell did he think she was? Some damsel in distress who couldn't take care of herself? At least he didn't actually walk her to the door. And he would have to pay for the cab ride. All in all, the night could have been worse.

He watched Katerina get into her apartment. It would be a long two years. She wasn't the worst company, but she was unpredictable and impulsive. Elijah wondered what it was going to be like to be living with her. And then it hit him, if they were getting married, people would expect them to be living together. It would probably be a good idea if they were sharing an apartment before actually getting married. Katherine wasn't the only one who could plan.

* * *

 **Author's note**

 **First of all, thanks for reading/reviewing/following/favouriting. I appreciate it.**

 **Secondly, I wish you all a happy new year. May 2016 bring love, joy, happiness, laughter and amazing stories to you.**

 **Thirdly, some answers to the lovely reviews.**

 **Thanks everyone for reviewing, it always makes my day ;)**

 **There will be a Klaroline pairing, but that will be on the background, the same goes for Bonnie and Kol and some other pairings as well ;) but the main focus is on Katherine and Elijah. I just like to include several ships, just because I can.**

 **Thanks again and have a great Hogmanay and a fantastic New Year!**

 **Love**


	4. Chapter 4

Katherine awoke to the sound of someone knocking on her door. She checked the time. It was eight am. Who the fuck was up this early? She put her pillow over her head, trying to block out the sound. Maybe they'd just fuck off. After five minutes, the pounding was still going on. Katherine threw off her covers and made her way to the door, ready to give the person standing on the other side a piece of her mind.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Piss off, you fucking –" Katherine stopped herself from saying anything else when she registered that it was in fact Elijah Mikaelson, wearing one of his perfectly tailored suits, standing in her doorway.

"Good morning to you too, Katerina." Elijah appeared completely unfazed by her appearance and her crude words.

"What are you doing here?" Katherine wasn't fully functioning yet, given the fact that she hadn't even had her first cup of coffee this morning. She noticed that Elijah had some things with him.

"I'm here to give you my key. We're moving in together. You'll need this." He handed her some boxes and a dumbfounded Katherine accepted them.

"I'll leave you to get some more sleep. Have a nice day, Katerina." And just like that, Elijah left.

It took Katherine two cups of coffee to fully register what had just occurred. Elijah had asked her to move in, with him. It kind of made sense in the grand scheme of things, but couldn't he have waited for a more convenient moment to actually ask her instead of just dumping the boxes and key on her. Besides, who said that she wanted to move into his apartment? It was decided. Katherine put on some clothes and made her way to Elijah Mikaelson's office.

"I'm here to see Elijah. He's expecting me, I'm sure." Katherine said as she was once again stopped by one of his employees. She looked at Katherine for a moment, before calling her boss saying that she was here to see him. Elijah had expected to see Katherine again today. She wouldn't be her if she didn't had something to say about his decision.

She stormed into his office. "You can't just dump this on me like that. You could've at least asked. And why the hell am I the one moving in with you. What's wrong with my apartment?"

"I made a decision. You should be happy that I'm helping you with this scheme. Don't you think people will find it odd if I suddenly propose and we're not even living together? At least that way, it seems like we're already at a serious stage in our relationship."

Katherine had to hand it to Elijah, he had thought this trough. "Fine. But why your apartment? What's wrong with mine?"

"Mine's bigger. Plus I have a guestroom." She got what he implied. Katherine held her hands up in surrender.

"You win. I'll call Nik and get him to help me pack. You can come over tonight and help out as well." Katherine turned on her heel and left him in his office.

*** Monday Rain ***

"I still can't believe he actually agreed to this, let alone come up with the moving in part. This should be fun." Nik said as he entered Katherine's apartment.

"Fun for you, I'm sure. I'm stuck with a judgemental, hard working man, who thinks of me as nothing more but a pretty girl who partied with his brothers."

"Come, Kat, don't be too hard on yourself. He knows you're not stupid. You did get an engineering degree. You studied at both Brown and Oxford. You know multiple languages and you did an internship at Petrova International. You're more than a pretty face, love." Katherine smiled kindly at her friend.

"Let's get my stuff boxed up."

As usual, Nik and Katherine didn't get that much done. They had begun on the task very diligently, but soon, they were set off track by the many things in Katherine's apartment. They would find a book, an item of clothing, or just something as simple as a photograph, and start reminiscing about their past. Their friendship was probably one of the weirdest ones in existence, but they made it work. They had bonded over their own miseries and over their dysfunctional families. Along the way, they found that they both had an appreciation for art, Nik being a great artist himself. Katherine had modelled for him as well. Both of them were into the same sort of music and loved going to shady places. They were like Bonnie and Clyde but without the romance. That was a line neither of them would ever cross, knowing that it would be short lived and result in the end of their friendship.

"Remember this?" Klaus asked, holding the signed _American Idiot_ record up.

"I couldn't forget it if I wanted." While in Berlin during their European adventure, they had snuck into a Green Day concert, had found the way backstage and got the record signed.

"Those were the days. That pretty little face of yours can work miracles." Katherine laughed, but it was true. She'd been twenty one, and with some flirting and empty promises, she could get people to do a lot of things. And with Nik by her side, they were pretty much unstoppable.

"As if your dimples can't work some magic themselves. I recall someone fainting because you just happened to smile at her." Nik chuckled at that memory.

"And that was how we landed ourselves VIP invites to the opening of the expressionist exhibition in the Hermitage."

"That was such an amazing evening. Champagne, amazing paintings and we were pretending to be some high society people. And I had the most beautiful dress ever." Katherine got up from the ground and walked over to put the records in a box.

A knock came from the door. "Don't speak to me of that dress, I still have nightmares about you dragging me from one store to another to find you perfect dress." Nik said while he went to open the door for his brother.

"Elijah, just who we needed." Elijah nodded at his brother. He should've known that they wouldn't have got much done, they were Katerina and Niklaus after all. The brunette nodded at him in greeting before turning back towards his brother.

"You had the finest looking woman on your arm, so don't complain to me about nightmares. Besides, neither of us went home completely dissatisfied."

Elijah had obviously just fallen into one of their many arguments. This was one he hadn't heard about.

"It still doesn't take away the fact that you forced me to spent an entire afternoon shopping and then spending a small fortune on a dress."

"I looked absolutely breathtaking. That dress was worth every penny." Katherine glared at Nik, daring him to contradict.

"You always did look quite ravishing in red, love." A small smile graced Katherine's lips, apparently she had won this argument.

Elijah cleared his throat. "Seems like you didn't really want to start without me." He said, noticing the still rather full apartment.

"Some boxes are already closed off." His brother defended, pointing at the two lonely boxes in the corner.

"Besides, this was your idea, we couldn't pull all the weight, right?" Elijah turned to Katherine, but she was trying to look as innocent as she could.

He raised a brow at her. "Need I remind you that this is your shenanigan. I'm already letting you live in my apartment."

"You agreed. Now we're in this together." Katherine said, crossing her arms and looking straight into Elijah's eyes. She hadn't lost her fire, that's for sure. Katerina could still be as stubborn as he remembered.

"Fine, then let's pack." Nik said, feeling the tension rise between his brother and his best friend. At least the sexual tension hadn't disappeared over the years. It was still entertaining to watch.

Katherine was in the middle of taping a box closed, filled with clothes, when her phone rang. She smiled when she saw who it was.

"Are you wearing it?" Katherine asked, forgoing a greeting.

"Hi, Kat, I'm fine, thank you for asking. How are you doing?" Caroline said in response.

"Yeah, yeah. Everything's fine, just answer the damn question." Katherine's eyes suddenly fell on Nik throwing her shoes in a box.

"Hold that thought." Katherine said before turning to Nik.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The brunette walked over to him and saved the shoe from his careless attitude.

"Packing?" Nik looked as if Katherine was insane.

"Those are Jimmy Choos. You do not throw Jimmy Choos in a box. You wrap them up in a paper and you carefully place them in the box."

"Jeesh, Kat. They're just shoes. Not fragile things made of glass." Nik realised that this was not a good thing to say. He saw his friend's face transform into anger.

"Do not call Jimmy Choos, just shoes, Nik. These are little pieces of art. Hell, some of these shoes are worth one of your artworks. If any of them have even a slight scratch on them, you're getting me a new pair." She said before turning on her heel and walking out on him. He shook his head, women and their shoes.

Elijah had to bite back a laugh when his brother emerged from the bedroom. Soon, he would be living with the tempest that was Katerina Gilbert. He was sure that in the months to come, he would curse himself for agreeing to this scheme.

"What was that all about?" Caroline asked when Katherine focused her attention back on her friend.

"Don't change subjects."

"It involves Jimmy Choos being thrown. I need to know." Caroline countered.

"Well, I'm moving." Katherine said, staring at her feet.

"You're moving?" The girl asked in disbelief.

Now was as good a time as ever. "Well, I'm-sort-of-moving-in-with-Elijah." She blurted out.

"I'm sorry? Did I understand this correctly? You're moving in with Elijah? As in Elijah Mikaelson? When the hell did that happen? And why am I only hearing about this now?"

"Remember that work thing in Saint-Petersburg?" It was time to test the cover story and see how it would fare.

"That was like a month or two ago, right? Oh, did you two finally hook up?"

"What do you mean finally?" Katherine asked in disbelief.

"Come on, Kat. The sexual tension between the two of you made me want to jump someone. It was bound to happen anyway."

"What sexual tension? Last time you have seen me and Elijah together was in Oxford. That's a very long time ago." Katherine huffed in indignation.

"It was obvious to anyone but the two of you. Hell, Kol even started a betting pool on how long it would take for the two of you to jump each other." Katherine's eyes widened in surprise.

"I'm going to kill him." She grumbled.

"Come on, Kat, it was just some stupid joke. You know Kol. Besides, he's losing quite some money." Katherine sighed, but relented.

"Alright. Enough about me. Now, are you wearing the damn thing or not?"

"Yes."

"Send me a picture." Katherine said, not entirely believing that Caroline would ever something as daunting as the sexy lace lingerie that she had given her.

"I'm not going to send you a picture, Kat."

"Why not? It's not like I've never seen you in your underwear before." Katherine could already imagine Caroline shaking her head at her.

Nik's head peaked up. "Is that Caroline?" He asked.

Katherine nodded.

"Tell her to send a picture."

"Who's that in the background?" Caroline wondered.

"It's just Nik, ignore him."

"Look, I'm not sure that I want to do this." Caroline tried to get out of this conversation.

"Hell no, you're not getting out of this one, Barbie."

"Come on, Kat." Caroline pleaded.

"I invested a lot in this mission. You are not backing out on this. I didn't spend hours trying to find the perfect set, for you to just bail on me like that."

"I'm not bailing, it's just, this isn't me, Katherine." Kat got where she was going, but she wasn't going to give up.

"It's really not that hard. You go up to his room, you drop the coat and then all there's left is you in that baby blue lace set. No man can resist that. Especially not Tyler."

"Why are you even doing this, you hate Tyler." Katherine couldn't disagree on that.

"But you love him and he makes you happy. And as your best friend, I support you in your relationship. Now get ready and seduce your man." Katherine urged Caroline, knowing that she'd won.

"I hate you, you know that, right."

"You love me and after you and Tyler have had a passionate night, you'll thank me all the more. Be safe." Katherine said before ending the call.

"So, are we getting a picture?" Nik asked.

"Caroline is off limits, Nik. She's way too good for you. Besides she has a boyfriend."

"Whom you dislike. You like me, that's a plus." Katherine crossed her arms and raised a brow.

"You're an egotistical, arrogant ass. I tolerate you."

"Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart. And what was that about sexual tension?" Katherine groaned. Of course, of course Nik had picked up on that.

"That's none of your business."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, love. Everyone could see it. Only you and my brother didn't. And that is why this is going to work." He said with a smug smile. Katherine had it with him. She threw a pillow in his face.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, cupcake." Katherine was never a fan of Nik's terms of endearment he used so loosely, so she occasionally threw them back at him.

Elijah sometimes wondered how those two hadn't killed each other yet. Then again, he knew how close they were and how much they actually knew about one another. Niklaus and Katherine fought like siblings. At least she got along with half of his family already. Elijah sighed, hoping that the two of them would stop their banter and actually got this done. He was getting a headache from those two.

"Are we getting on your nerves, Elijah?" Katerina asked with a mocking smile.

"I'm perfectly fine, Katerina."

"Well in that case, let's get some dinner shall we?" Nik suggested.


	5. Chapter 5

Katherine looked at her apartment. There were boxes everywhere. She wondered what she was going to do with the place.

"You okay?" Nik asked her.

"Yeah, just thinking about what I'll do with the apartment."

"You could rent it out." Elijah suggested. It was a good idea, she just found it a bit weird that someone else would be sleeping in her bed and use her things. Then again, she could always use the money.

"I guess." Today would be her last day in the apartment, tomorrow they would move her things to Elijah's place. Nik had ordered Chinese and they were sitting on the couch, watching a movie.

They had just finished dinner and the movie when someone knocked on the door. Katherine got up and opened the door and found Caroline with a tear-stained face.

"Thank god you're here." Caroline said before throwing herself in Katherine's arms. The brunette didn't know what exactly had happened, but if she'd had to guess, it had something to do with Tyler.

"It's okay, Care. It'll all be okay." She tried to console the blonde.

Elijah and Nik kind of stood there awkwardly, not really knowing what to do. Elijah, always the practical one, started cleaning the table, not wanting to intrude.

"I'm such an idiot, you know. You were right and I was just the stupid and naive girl who fell in love with him. I got played." The girl cried on Katherine's shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Care. He's the idiot for playing you." Katherine pushed Caroline slightly back and forced her to look at her.

"You listen to me, you are Caroline Forbes. You're smart, kind, funny, beautiful and one of the best people in the whole world. And if he's willing to throw you away, he's even stupider than I believed to be possible. He'll regret it." Kat wiped some tears away. "You hear me?" She asked when Caroline didn't respond. Finally, the blonde nodded.

"I'm sorry for just barging in like this."

"Don't apologise. You're my best friend, you're always welcome."

Katherine realised that Nik and Elijah were here. Time to put them to use. "Nik, Elijah, could you guys go to the store and get some ice cream?" Katherine knew that ice cream would help Caroline with her break up.

"Sure thing, sweetheart. Always happy to be of service." Nik said with a small wink in Caroline's direction.

"Niklaus." Both she and Elijah said at the same time. They caught each other's eyes and turned away almost immediately. Elijah nodded once and pushed his brother out the door, before he could say anything else.

"Three days together and you're already in tune." Nik commented as he and Elijah were outside.

"That was highly inappropriate. From what I've gathered Caroline just broke up with her boyfriend, now was not a good time to make a move, brother." Elijah dismissed his brother's comment.

"I'll apologise later. Katherine will have my hide if I don't."

"Sorry about Nik, he can be highly inappropriate." Katherine said as she led Caroline to the couch. The blonde had calmed down a little.

"It's fine."

"Can I get you something to drink?" Katherine offered, though she didn't know where the alcohol was. She got up and went in search of a bottle of something. As if by luck, she found a bottle of vodka.

"It's the best I could find." Katherine said as she handed the bottle to Caroline. The blonde took a large gulp and collected herself.

"I can't believe he cheated on me." Katherine didn't respond, waiting for Caroline to continue. She took another swing.

"I arrived at his apartment, wearing nothing but a coat and the lingerie, I don't bother to knock because he gave me a key. He gave me a freaking key, knowing that I could enter whenever I wanted. I did the thing, you know, dropping the coat and all that. And it was great. Then the next morning, in comes Liv freaking Parker. The girl just walked in like she owned the damn place. That son of a bitch was cheating on me. All this trouble for nothing." And then Caroline broke down again.

She never liked Tyler Lockwood much, but that had a lot to do with his last name. But Caroline had fallen for Tyler and she had watched. In all honesty, Tyler was not a bad guy. Sure, he had the arrogance and the I'm so rich and awesome thing going, but he treated Caroline right. She had actually believed that Tyler had loved Caroline. Katherine had always believed that Caroline deserved better, but she was happy with Tyler, so she'd never commented on it. She'd also never told her exactly why she didn't like Tyler, but for Caroline's sake, she'd given the guy a chance. And he'd proven her wrong, up until now. Katherine had feared that this would've happened in the end, but she had never had the guts to tell her best friend. She'd hoped that it would've worked out or that Caroline would've broken up with him before he'd hurt her. But unfortunately, her best friend did get hurt.

When Nik and Elijah returned, they found a still very upset Caroline, being consoled by Katherine. "Ice cream." Katherine said, getting up from the couch and taking the batch from Elijah.

"Thanks."

"No problem. We'll get going. See you tomorrow for the move." Katherine nodded before turning to Nik and looked at him expectantly.

"Caroline, I'm sorry about earlier. That was entirely inappropriate."

"Don't worry about it. It's not the worst thing that has happened to me today." Caroline had semi-collected herself. There was still a lot of sadness in her voice. Katherine led the brothers to the door and waved them goodbye.

She offered Caroline a spoon and together they dove into the ice cream. "You don't need to keep it PG-13 for me, you know." Caroline said after a spoonful of ice.

"What?"

"The guy went to get ice cream for your best friend who'd just barged in, crying and probably ruining the night. And you don't ever kiss him goodnight. Bad form, Kat."

Katherine suppressed a sigh. She hadn't really thought through the whole display of affection thing. Sure, she'd kissed Elijah before, but she'd been drunk and trying to make a point. She'd have to talk this through with Elijah. With Nik around, they didn't really have to pretend, but now they had to.

"I just didn't want to upset you."

"Please, you finally have a relationship. You're moving in together. How the hell did that happen?"

Katherine saw some of Caroline's usual bubbly self surface and decided to roll with it. Everything to help her take her mind off of the douche that was Tyler Lockwood.

"It sort of just happened. We saw each other in Saint Petersburg, started talking and one thing led to another. We mostly talked after that and just found some common ground."

Caroline regarded her best friend carefully. Something was up here. She'd known Katherine pretty much her entire life. The blonde knew when Katherine was in love. This was different. And sure, her best friend hadn't been in love for a very long time, but that still didn't explain why there was little to nothing of that kind. Katherine was an excellent liar, but this relationship, it didn't add up to her personality.

"And now the truth." Caroline pointed her spoon at the brunette accusingly.

"I'm in love with him." If Caroline hadn't known her best friend better, she would've believed her. But she was Caroline Forbes and she'd taken part in some crazy things with her and this reeked of crazy.

"Don't play me for a fool." Caroline responded.

Katherine hissed in frustration. "Damn it." She got up from the couch and started pacing.

"It was supposed to sell. You believed me over the phone, didn't you? How come you're suddenly not buying it?"

"Because I was standing right next to you when you swore that you would never again be in a relationship. And I have seen you in love. You were fifteen, but still." The blonde was looking way too triumphant. Obviously she'd found something to focus her attention on instead of her break up.

"Alright, but say that you didn't know that. Would you actually believe that I could be serious about this?" It was clear to Caroline that a lot was depending on whatever deal Elijah and Katherine had made.

"I could buy it. But you'll have to work a little more on the story and on the PDA. Seriously. And you have to act like you're in love, even a little bit."

She had a valid point. Katherine sighed as she sat back down next to her friend. "So, what exactly are you planning?" Kat grabbed the bottle of vodka and took a large swing from it.

"We're getting married." She said nonchalantly.

"How did you get Elijah to agree with that? Or did he actually come up with this?"

The master schemer explained the whole game plan she and Elijah had worked out. The blonde actually let out a laugh.

"This is going to be so much fun. I actually get to plan your wedding."

"Hold your horses, he hasn't proposed yet." Both of them laughed.

"Thanks." Caroline said after she recovered from her fit of giggles.

"Anytime."

Katherine woke up with a killer headache. Maybe she and Caroline had a little bit too much to drink last night. Then again, her best friend did just get cheated on, so, drowning her sorrows had seemed like a good idea.

"What is that noise?" Caroline grumbled next to her.

"Crap. Moving, now. Nik. Elijah." Katherine wasn't able to form coherent sentences yet. She groaned as she struggled to get out of bed. The brunette made her way through the apartment, bumping into several boxes, almost tumbling over a bottle of tequila which she couldn't remember emptying last night, but finally made it to her door. She was greeted by Nik and Elijah. Katherine couldn't believe it was one in the afternoon already.

"Good day, sunshine. It's a wonderful day, don't you think?" Nik half shouted.

Katherine glared at him. "Jerk." She said before letting them in.

"Partied a little too hard?" Nik asked as he held up the empty vodka bottle and the tequila bottle.

"Shut it, Klaus." Caroline said as she threw a pillow at his head. Her aim was unfortunately way off and it just landed next to him.

Elijah should've expected a hung over Katherine. He knew that she saw the solution of any problem in alcohol. Recalling the sad mess Caroline had been last night, he decided to go easy on her. He made his way to the kitchen and started making some coffee. His brother was busy taunting them, which would surely land him in trouble sooner or later.

"Why don't you make yourself useful and you get us some food." Katherine suggested as she was rummaging through the cupboards, trying to find some aspirin. Nik almost wanted to object, but if he refused, he'd have to do all the loading himself.

"Be right back." Elijah handed her a mug of coffee. She smiled gratefully at him. He gave another one to Caroline.

"He's a keeper." Caroline said with a small wink to Katherine.

Obviously, they had some inside joke that he wasn't aware of, because he could see that mischievous glint in the brunette's eyes.

After the girls had got some food in their system they were much more agreeable and even helped loading the boxes. When they were about to star unloading, Caroline's phone rang. It was Tyler. Katherine noticed the look on her best friend's face and snagged the phone out of her hand. "Listen to me you skeezy, son of a bitch. You Lockwoods are a waste of our precious time. You're an ass, you threw away the best thing that ever happened in your life. And don't even think about getting her back, because she still has her dignity. You're a little piece of shit and I hope you wind up miserable and alone. Goodbye." Katherine handed the phone back to Caroline.

"Don't give me that look, Care. The guy hurt you and no one hurts my best friend. Besides, it's not like you're going to take him back." Caroline sighed.

"You can be a real bitch sometimes, you know that, right?" Katherine just smiled at her. The blonde shook her head. Sometimes Caroline envied her best friend. She could be rude and impulsive and not give a damn about it. She was just too nice sometimes.

The brunette noticed to sad look on Caroline's face.

"Here's an idea. After I have unpacked and such, you can go get your stuff from Tyler's place and you can tell him what an ass he is in person."

"I'm not sure whether I can do that." But Kat refused to take no for an answer.

"Don't give me that crap, Care. You may be a kind and loving person, but no one will die just because you decide to stand up for yourself. You have every right to do so. No one's expecting you to always be girly-goody Caroline."

"Girly-goody? Is that even a word?" The blonde lighted up just a little bit.

"You know what I mean. Now let's grab some boxes and see my new place."

* * *

 **Author's note**

 **Thanks for reading. I hope you liked it. I still have some chapters finished, but since I'm a bit blocked I haven't been able to write anything else for a while, so I'm slowly updating and hopefully, I'll be hit with inspiration soon.**

Thanks again for reading and until next time.


	6. Chapter 6

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Yeah, I'm back with another chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

"This is definitely a step up from your previous place." Caroline said as she entered the apartment. Katherine could only agree. Elijah's place was even bigger than Nik's. He had a small foyer, leading into the living room. Some of the boxes were already put there by the guys.

"Exploring is for later, first the boxes." Nik said as he saw their eyes wander. Katherine resisted the urge to groan. Why oh why had she decided that drinking that much alcohol last night was a good idea.

"Why do you have so many things?" Caroline complained when they finally put the last box down. She slumped down on the couch.

"I'm Katherine Pierce."

Caroline shook her head. It had been a standard explanation ever since they were children. She remembered the games they used to play when they were little, imagining their futures. Katherine had always created this persona she wished to be. They both had, but only Katherine had been able to actually become Katherine Pierce instead of remaining Katerina Gilbert.

Katherine eyed her best friend. She was relieved to see her friend was doing okay. Sure, she could still see the pain of the break-up, and she knew that Caroline would most likely be crying herself to sleep. Katherine decided that she would need to call in reinforcements. She made a mental note to call Stefan today.

"You do realise those boxes won't unpack themselves, right?" Elijah said, eying the two friends on his couch.

"That is no way to speak to your girlfriend, Elijah." Caroline commented dryly. Elijah realised that he had dropped the pretence he and Katherine had tried to put up.

"Yes, Elijah, how can we have a loving relationship when you talk to me in such way?" She faked a hurt tone, which soon dissolved into giggles from both her and Caroline.

"Did I miss something?" Nik asked, looking at the two girls on the couch.

"I have a feeling that Caroline is aware of the situation." Elijah figured it was the only plausible explanation.

"Of course I knew that it was fake. I know Katherine and I know when she's actually in love. You'll have to work on acting as a couple. The sexual tension between you can only take you so far." Katherine bit her lip to stop herself from saying something. This was typically Caroline. She focused her attention on something else so she wouldn't need to think about her own life.

"Sexual tension?" Katherine stifled a laugh at Elijah's question. It was the same reaction she'd had when Caroline had first mentioned that.

"Yes, brother. Sexual tension between you and Katherine. It was obvious to everyone but the two of you in Oxford. Why did you think that Kol was trying to get the two of you together. You both needed to get laid. For all of our sakes."

"Moving on." Caroline said, knowing fully well that Katherine was still upset about the betting pool and it would not do to have that out in the open. They were still in denial.

"You have to sell it. Being a couple. There have to be these little touches and looks. You'll have to pretend to like each other and you have to sort of gravitate to one another." Caroline said, clapping her hands together.

"Uhm, Care, could you kick it down a notch? I'd like to get my things unpacked first and have a decent good night sleep before you decide to tackle my fake relationship. You can either help unpack, start making one of your schematics to lay out everything that's problematic about this relationship or you can call Stefan and have a drink with him."

"I'll help unpack. I'd like to see your new living quarters."

"How about a tour?" Elijah offered, relieved that Katherine was reigning her friend in. He didn't need anyone else meddling in his life.

"As you can see this is the living room and dining room. The kitchen's over there." It was a roomy kitchen, there was possibility of eating at the counter as well as a table in the dining room that could sit six people. There was a lot of light coming through the window, which offered a fantastic view of the city. It led to a balcony as well. Elijah guided them through the hallway. There was a spare bedroom with a separate bathroom. A dressing. The en-suite master bedroom and an extra room which Elijah used as his office.

Katherine looked at the dressing. It was practically a separate room. Elijah owned a lot of suits, but that didn't come as much of a surprise. She regarded it carefully.

"Will it do?" Elijah asked from behind her.

"It's not the most terrible place." She said with a smirk.

They moved her things to her room and she started with unpacking her clothes. The guys left that to her and Caroline, knowing that they would most likely ruin it anyway.

"What are you going to do with your apartment?" Caroline asked while they were putting Kat's clothes in the dressing.

"Probably rent it out, why?"

"I know someone who might be interested."

"Who?"

"Bonnie Bennett. She's started her residency at the hospital and she's looking for a place to stay." The name sounded familiar.

"Sheila Bennett's grandchild?"

"You do realise we went to primary school with her, right?"

Katherine recalled the girl. "Right. I guess she can come and check it out. I'll talk to Elijah about rent here."

Caroline shook her head. "Being impulsive isn't always a good idea, Kat. You sometimes tend to oversee things like that."

"I have a job."

Caroline looked at her friend in question.

"I'm working at a bar. Nik hooked me up right when I got back. I need to have some kind of income."

"Katherine Pierce being a responsible adult." Caroline mocked.

"Need I remind you that I worked at an international company."

"I still don't understand why you quit."

Katherine shrugged. "I don't like people telling me what to do. Especially if that person happened to be my favourite cousin in the whole wide world." Katherine said sarcastically.

"The Wicked Witch from the East." They'd dubbed her that not long after first meeting Tatia. She was just a terrible, spoilt, brat.

Around seven thirty, Katherine and Caroline walked into the living area for dinner. They had already smelled the food being prepared while unpacking. Dinner was a nice gathering. Katherine and Nik bantered, as usual, Caroline was rather quiet and observed the others and Elijah threw in a comment now and again. Katherine also asked about rent and things like that. Apparently, Elijah owned the apartment, so she just had to contribute for food and such. It was probably a good thing, because she doubted that she'd be able to afford rent in this place.

"Have you talked to your dad yet?" Caroline asked when they sat down on the couch after dinner.

"Nope. He's on a conference." Katherine wondered what her father was going to make of this. He knew her pretty well.

"It'll work. Just make it really convincing. Channel your teenage years." Caroline advised.

"Katherine Pierce, the teenage years. That must've been a nightmare for your parents." Nik joked.

"Elena was the good girl. I was the thorn in Isobel's eye."

"You started off good, but then there was Matt."

Katherine smiled a little bit. He'd been her first love. "Matty Blue Blue."

"Ah, the quarterback. Still just a small town boy?" Nik inquired.

"He is now the proud owner of Mystic Grill. And dating the daughter of father Young. Poor guy, he has to go to church every Sunday." Katherine had seen him quite recently. While their breakup had been rather painful, they'd resumed contact a while back. They were now friends. Matt was one of the few people that knew Katherine really well and who was always there for her.

"April Young? Didn't Elena used to babysit her? Isn't she like Amara's age?"

"She's a year younger than Jer. And how the hell didn't you know that? Don't you and Liz gossip about that sort of thing?" Caroline called her mom at least once a weak to catch her up on everything. And she was the only one who frequently went back to Mystic Falls.

"We have better things to do than talk about Matt Donovan. And since we're on the Donovan family, guess who's back?"

When Katherine didn't say anything, Caroline continued. "Kelly."

"I hate that woman. Let me guess, did she bring home husband number four?" That woman would blow in and out of Mystic Falls whenever she felt like it. She'd leave town, meet a guy, get hitched and come back to see her children. She'd started doing that when Matt had been fifteen. He'd pretty much took care of everything since Vicki, his older sister, had been a walking disaster, doing drugs and partying a bit too much.

"Yup. And apparently he's even worse than the previous one. He and Matt don't get along. It came to a fight and my mom had to break it up."

"She should just do everyone a favour and stay away." Katherine concluded.

Elijah knew that Katherine had grown up in a small town, but he hadn't know much about her past. Nik obviously had an idea what they were talking about. From what he gathered, they were talking about Katherine' ex who was currently involved with a certain April Young, the daughter of the local pastor. It made Elijah wonder about Matt Donovan. Somehow, he imagined her as a rebellious, troublemaker and he figured that her ex must've been a bad boy. Maybe he'd changed his ways. It had been five years or so since Katherine had been in high school. People change. And then there was Caroline, who he remembered to be kind and patient. They were an odd fit. He wasn't interested in the conversation at all, so he'd taken a book and had started to read.

"Tobias Fell died. Logan is running for mayor, mom says that he'd probably win, he has the family name and enough people that like him."

"Since when does Logan care about small town politics? And the guy's an ass." Katherine despised the guy. He'd been a couple of years older than she was, but he'd dated her favourite aunt and had broken her heart.

"Meredith's trying to campaign, but she's too young. She won't be getting enough votes."

"Meredith Sulez?" That was something she hadn't known.

"The one and only. I thought Elena would've told you. They still keep in touch." Mer had been Elena's best friend from their hometown.

"Elena and I aren't exactly close."

"Please tell me you're not still mad at her for choosing Damon? I'm okay with it. He actually turned into a half decent guy." Katherine wished she could explain why she and Elena were somewhat estranged.

"Look, it's just something between us. It's –"

"Complicated. I know." Caroline sighed.

"She did say she missed you for Christmas. We all did."

"I did too. I'm sorry I missed it." Katherine tried to be sincere, but in all honesty, spending Christmas with Isobel, John, Elena, Damon and Tyler hadn't been high upon her list.

"Oh god. I haven't told my mom about Tyler yet." Caroline suddenly realised that she hadn't talked to her mom about her break up yet.

"What am I supposed to say? She really liked him. We were great together, we were even talking about moving in together. And now that's all ruined."

Katherine padded Caroline on the back and guided her to her room. She didn't need Nik and Elijah to listen in on a girl who'd just got her heart broken. Katherine had been waiting for the blonde to break down again, it had only been a matter of time. She'd tried to keep her occupied, by talking about Mystic Falls, but it had only worked so long.

Nik had been drawing while the girls were speaking. He listened, but kept out of the conversation. Kat had been trying to distract her friend from the break up, but in the end, she had failed. He looked at his sketchpad. It was an image of Caroline. There had been something about her that had compelled him to pick up a pencil and started sketching her. Nik had always wondered whether Katherine had ever opened up to anyone about the reason why she didn't want to spend Christmas with her family, but she was clearly very tight lipped about it. She'd never purposely told him, either.

Elijah looked up from his book as Katherine guided her friend to her room. Nik followed Elijah's gaze. "I have a feeling you'll be seeing a lot of her the coming days."

"As long as they keep it quiet, that's alright by me." Nik eyed his brother. He had known that this was going to be fun. He wondered how long it was going to take before they were going to be at each other's throats. Nik wasn't complaining at all. He liked Kat's best friend, though she was off limits.

"You might want to take notes, 'Lijah. They were talking about some of Kat's past." Elijah heard his brother say. Niklaus was having way too much fun with this situation. He looked up from his book expectantly.

"Why don't you lay it out for me, brother? You seem to know what they were talking about." He was curious about Katerina's past. If he admitted it to himself, Elijah had been intrigued by Katerina Gilbert ever since he'd seen her in Branson's class. She was a storm. Nik smirked at him.

"Now where would be the fun in that, dear brother?"

"I'm sure Katerina will be disappointed if we cannot pull this off." Elijah countered. For all Nik's flaws, he did care about Katherine. He regarded her as family and he wouldn't let her down.

"For starters, you may want to lay off the Katerina, she doesn't like it when people call her that. You know she has a twin, Elena. They don't get along well. She grew up in a small town, Mystic Falls. Caroline's mom is Elizabeth Forbes, she's the sheriff. Matt Donovan is Kat's high school sweetheart. He was the quarterback and a bust boy. The Fell family is practically royalty in that small town. Katherine doesn't like them much. Meredith was Elena's Caroline while growing up. Mystic Falls has a lot of festivities. If you want to know more about it, ask Kat. I never asked more about it, because there's a shitload of them, one more crazier than the other. Also a tip, avoid the topic of her parent's divorce and her mother's relationship with her Uncle John. It's a very sensitive subject for Katherine. She does not like him one bit. She adores her little sister, Amara, and she gets along well with her cousin Jeremy. Does that help?"

"Thank you, brother." Elijah was actually impressed by the attention Nik had paid to the things that Katherine had told him. Then again, the two of them were a very unusual pair. He wouldn't be surprised if Katerina knew a lot more about his family then he had first believed. The girl probably knew about Tatia. She might even know about Hendrik. He was aware of Katherine's rather strained relationship with her mother. After all, the girl had put an ocean between them for a year. And there had always been a strange dynamic between Katherine and Elena. Elijah had been curious what was the reason for it, but since Nik didn't expand on it and warned him off, he decided not to bring it up any time soon.

* * *

So, what did you think? I'm working on the next chapter, so hopefully I'll be able to update within the next couple of weeks. Sorry to keep you waiting.

Thanks for reading/reviewing/favouriting/following!


	7. Chapter 7

"You are a life saver, Caroline." Bonnie said as she hugged the blonde.

"You haven't even seen the apartment yet."

"I'm sure it'll be okay, I mean it's Katherine's." Katherine smiled at the comment.

"Let's go in and see, shall we?" Katherine opened the door the her former home.

"Wow, it's big. Are you sure that you only want seven hundred for the rent and such? I mean it's just…" Bonnie trailed looking around.

"If you want to pay more, I'm not going to stop you." Katherine felt Caroline glaring at her.

"Care, it's a joke."

"I can move in right away?" Bonnie inquired.

"Yeah." Caroline said as she took the contract that Stefan had made.

"Stefan made this today, so it's all official and legal." Katherine hadn't really given much thought to the legality of the whole situation, but Caroline wouldn't take no for an answer and had harassed Stefan until he had the contract drawn up.

Katherine thought back on their lunch an hour or two ago. Stefan had been completely taken by surprise when he heard about her relationship with Elijah. She didn't blame him, but in the end, he bought it. Caroline had informed him of her break-up in one short sentence. One look at the blonde and he had refrained from asking any more questions. He did, however, question Katherine on her love life. After his initial surprise that Katherine was not only in a relationship, but actually living together, he had some questions. Like the when, the how, and why the hell did he only know about it now. She'd been able to convince him that she was actually serious about Elijah. The true test would be when they had to act as a couple.

"You know, Katherine, I still can't believe that you are dating Elijah Mikaelson."

"Yeah, it just sort of happened, you know. I wanted something different and he was there, being all charming and one thing led to another and next thing I know, I'm in love. I had forgotten what it felt like, but there's just something about him." Caroline gave Kat a thumbs up from behind Bonnie. They were definitely selling it.

"I'm happy for you." Bonnie said with a smile.

"I am too. And hey, you got a nice apartment out of this."

"That I sure did."

*** Monday Rain ***

Katherine was managing the bar. It was a bit of a slow night. Caroline and Stefan were here. Nik had texted, telling her that he would be stopping by with Elijah. If she wanted to convince Stefan, she'd had to act the part of girlfriend. Caroline had given her a lot of pointers on that. She only hoped Elijah would play his part as well. The past couple of days had been good. Of course it had a lot to do with the fact that they barely saw each other. Last night, her father had called. She hadn't told him about Elijah yet, but she had said that she had some big news for when he got back. And she had sort of hinted that it may had something to do with a guy.

"So, the boyfriend's coming tonight." Stefan said with a smile as Katherine put down the drinks at the bar.

"He is." Katherine tried her best to muster up the enthusiasm. At least Nik would be with him as well.

"I have to ask though, Saint-Petersburg, was that the first time you two did it?" Katherine rolled her eyes at Stefan's question.

"Why, is it that hard to believe?"

"It is hard to believe that it took you two that long. Everyone knew that it was bound to happen. I'm just surprised it turned out the way it did." Stefan said. Katherine looked at him for a moment. She always thought Elijah was attractive and she'd like to play games with him, but she never considered him a potential boyfriend because he's too serious. And she didn't do boyfriends. She didn't like to be restrained in her freedom.

"Is that a way of you saying that you thought that I wouldn't be able to keep Elijah around?"

"Please, Kat, don't insult my intelligence. You could have any guy you want and make sure that they stay. You're smart, you're gorgeous and you're assertive. I'm surprised that you'd settle for someone like Elijah. He doesn't seem adventurous" Kat had never looked at it from that angle, still, she rolled with it.

"There's more to Elijah than just the suit." She answered, though that was a mystery she hadn't uncovered yet.

"Okay, I do not want to hear about your sex life." Caroline said, turning away from that subject.

"Let's talk about yours then, seen anything you like?" Katherine asked. But before Caroline could reply, she had to tend to the bar.

"You don't have to do this, Care." Stefan said while Katherine left them for a moment.

"I know, but Kat has a point, maybe some meaningless sex will do me some good. I need the release." Caroline said.

"Why do I even hang out with you two? Kat knows no boundaries and you are surprisingly open."

The blonde chuckled. "Maybe you're just a prude, Stef. Ever thought about that?" Caroline gave him a pointed look before sipping from her drink.

Elijah couldn't believe he'd let Nik drag him along to this bar. He said that he needed to act like a proper boyfriend which according to his brother meant visiting Katherine at her workplace. Hang out with her friends. Katherine had been working for the past two nights, while he worked during the day. It hadn't really seemed as if they were actually living together. He was away during the day, she was away during the night. He didn't really mind. But tonight, Nik had insisted he'd come. They had to keep up the pretence.

Katherine looked up and saw Elijah and Nik enter. Elijah was wearing a suit, still with a tie. A smile appeared on her face. She took a breath and decided that she needed to make it convincing. PDA, just like Caroline had said. She stepped away from the bar to greet them. Elijah saw Katerina walking up to him with a lot of confidence. She had an extra sway in her step and a mischievous glint in her eyes. That girl was up to something. Katherine walked up to Elijah she grabbed hold of his tie and pulled him close. She kissed him. It was a chaste kiss, for her anyway. When she pulled back, she saw noticed Elijah's shocked expression and laughed. Nik joined in.

"That was golden." Nik said, looking at the expression on his brother's face. Leave it to Katherine to pull something like this.

"What was that for?" Elijah said, finally finding his voice. He had not been prepared for that. It's not like he hadn't kissed Katerina before, because he had, and this was definitely a more chaste and toned down kiss.

"Saying hi. You might want to get used to it. PDA and such." She still hadn't let go of his tie.

"The tie needs to go." Katherine said as she started pulling at the tie, taking it off. Then she opened up the top button of his shirt. She tilted her head to the side and admired her handy work.

"There, much better." Then she turned on her heel and went back to tend to the bar.

"You okay, brother?" Nik asked, stifling his laughter. Elijah straightened his face. He was her boyfriend after all.

"I did not see that coming."

"It's Katherine, she's known to be unpredictable. Come on, let's go say hi to her friends." Klaus gave Elijah a gentle push forward.

"Caroline, Ripper." Katherine shook her head at Nik's greeting. Klaus had shown Stefan the wild side after his break-up with Elena. The two of them, referring to themselves as the hybrid and the ripper had done some serious damage. Katherine had often taken part in there shenanigans, adding some spice to the mix. They moved to a booth in the corner while Kat went back to work.

"So, that's your boyfriend, huh?" Katherine's co-worker asked.

"Yeah."

"Did Klaus set you two up? They're brothers, right?"

Kat chuckled. "In a way, though it was Kol who had tried first, back in college." She hadn't entirely forgiven him for the bet. He would pay for that one.

"Kol?"

"Their younger brother."

She saw Lindsay's eyes widen. "Another Mikaelson?"

"There's a lot of them. Two girls, four boys." Kat didn't mention the brother who'd died, it was none of Lindsay's concern.

"Wow. Is he cute as well?"

"They have very good genes." She couldn't say anything else, because the crowd was starting to grow and they wanted drinks.

"So, Elijah, Kat said you work at Mayer Brown?" Stefan asked.

"Yes. You work at your father's firm, unless I'm mistaken?"

"Salvatore, Gilbert and Saltzman. Yes. It's a small firm. What's it like playing in the big leagues?"

"Busy. It's challenging, as well, though I don't see the inside of a courtroom that often."

Stefan smiled at Elijah's words. "Yeah, I can only imagine. I've seen the inside a little too much lately. I wouldn't mind a change of pace, so if your prestigious firm has a job opening, I wouldn't mind applying."

"Why would you want to work at a corporate firm?" Caroline wondered. It didn't seem like Stefan.

"I'd like to try something different. Besides, working with Damon and Ric is really testing my patience."

Caroline understood that.

"There's been some rumours about a new associate position. I'll let you know." Elijah said.

"Isn't there an event next week?" Klaus wondered. He vaguely remembered his brother mentioning that.

"Yes, it's a gala. I can get you an invite, if you want." Elijah told Stefan.

"Really?" Stefan hadn't expected that. He had been toying with the idea to work at a different firm for a while, but he hadn't really dared undertake the steps needed to do so.

"Yeah, it won't be a problem."

"And Katherine will be there as well." Caroline interjected. Elijah looked at the blonde for a moment before realising what she was doing.

"If she doesn't have to work."

"I'm sure she'll change shifts." Nik responded, grasping Caroline's idea.

"Why don't you go and ask. I could use another drink." Stefan said, motioning to his now empty beer bottle.

"I'll have a bourbon, no ice." Klaus told his brother.

"Tell Kat to surprise me. She knows what I like." Caroline said.

"I'll have a bourbon as well." Stefan stated.

Elijah got up and walked over to Katherine, shaking his head at Klaus and Caroline's not so subtle pushing. He knew that they'd have to act as a couple in order to make this work. And they'd have to pretend to be really serious if he wanted people to believe that they would actually have reason to get married.

"Let me guess, Nik and Care sent you out here." Kat said as Elijah halted in front of the bar.

"They're helping to keep this charade going."

"I'm sorry you had to come." She knew Elijah wasn't really a big fan of going out with his brother.

"It's not that bad." He shrugged.

"So, what will it be?"

Elijah relayed the order of the others. She whipped up a Blue Cosmo for Caroline and got two bourbons for the others.

"What about you?"

"Gin and Tonic. And are you free next Thursday?"

Katherine looked at him in question. She went over her schedule and told him that she was.

"There's a work related event. Stefan will be there as well."

Katherine felt her phone vibrate and checked to see a message from Caroline. She shook her head. "Sometimes I wish Care didn't know about our whole arrangement." She sighed.

"How so?" Elijah wondered. She showed him the text that read _Kiss him._

"It's her way of helping us with the PDA." Katherine said, trying to excuse her best friends behaviour.

"You need help with the drinks?" She asked, trying to release the awkward tension that hung in the air. He didn't answer, but instead, placed the drinks a little to the side and leaned closer to her.

"You do realise you can just ignore that text, right?"

"I know." But Elijah didn't stop.

"What in the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" An accusing and angry voice asked from next to them. Elijah turned to look at his sister. She looked surprised and angry.

"Hi Rebekah. Can I get you a drink?" Katherine inquired.

"What is going on here?" She demanded to know.

"Well, I was about to kiss my boyfriend before his sister rudely interrupted. Now, do you want a drink or not, because I have customers who need to be served." Elijah watched as Katherine seemed totally unfazed and just rolled with it.

Rebekah seemed ready to blow up. "You're dating her?" She asked in disbelief.

"I am."

"Have you lost your mind? How can you date her? She's so-" Katherine looked at Rebekah expectantly. She was curious as to what she was going to say about her.

"Beautiful? Gorgeous? Amazing? Intelligent? Assertive?" Kat suggested when Rebekah didn't continue her sentence.

"I need a drink." Rebekah said.

"What will it be?" Katherine was having fun with this. She and Bekah didn't get along very well. It may have something to do with their first meeting when Katherine had sort of asked whether Bekah was really that dumb or just naturally blonde. It hadn't gone over well.

"A Blue Cosmo." Katherine whipped one up and put it next to the other drinks. She pulled Elijah close and gave him a quick peck, angering Rebekah even further. She smiled before getting back to work.

"Sister, I see you've met Elijah's new lady friend." Nik said as Rebekah sat down at their table.

"You could've warned me. How long has this been going on?" Bekah turned to Elijah, who had put down the drinks.

"A couple of months."

"What? And you didn't tell me?" She said, sounding hurt.

"You're not the only one. I found out after they had moved in together." Stefan tried to ease Rebekah's hurt.

"You're living together?"

"Yes." Elijah answered.

"Unbelievable. I still can't believe you would hide something like this from me."

"Of course, it's always about you, isn't it, Bekah?" Klaus said, amused by his sisters flare for the dramatics.

"This is all your fault." Rebekah pointed a finger at Nik.

"How is it my fault that Elijah and Katherine are together? If I recall it correctly, Kat met Elijah before she met me." Nik reasoned.

"Shut it." Rebekah said angrily.

"You know, maybe you could have dinner together?" Caroline suggested, trying to ease the tension. She knew that Katherine and Rebekah had started off on the wrong foot, but maybe this would bring them together.

"I think that's a great idea." Stefan said, supporting Caroline's idea.

Elijah looked a bit doubtful, but Nik nodded. "I believe Katherine's free the day after tomorrow." Nik pushed the idea.

Elijah realised that this would have to happen sooner or later. "She is. Rebekah?" Elijah turned to his sister.

"Fine. But don't think that I like this. I'm doing this because you are my brother and I want you to be happy."

"Thank you."


End file.
